About Us

Joseph Ferra brings to Elevation over 20 years of financial, strategic and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. Prior to becoming CEO, he served Elevation as Chief Financial Officer and Interim CEO. Before joining Elevation, he was Chief Financial Officer of Syros Pharmaceuticals where he led the development and implementation of key financial and capital strategies and contributed to corporate initiatives. Previously, he spent over a decade as an investment banker in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, where he established a strong track record of advising on equity and M&A transactions. This included serving as Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at JMP Securities and being a member of the investment banking groups at JP Morgan and UBS. Earlier in his career, Joe served in sales and engineering roles in the life science tools industry. He earned his MBA from The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He obtained a B.S. in Chemistry with Distinction from Purdue University, where he contributed to published papers and conducted research at the National Institutes of Health. 

Joe also currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the General Board of Directors and as the Chair of Audit & Risk Committee for the YMCA of Greater Boston.

Joe resides in Rhode Island and enjoys playing guitar, sailing, hiking and anything else involving the outdoors.

Valerie Malyvanh Jansen, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist who brings over 10 years of experience in medicine and oncology drug development. Prior to joining Elevation Oncology, Valerie was Executive Medical Director at Mersana Therapeutics, serving as the medical lead for the clinical development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Prior to that, she was Senior Medical Advisor at Eli Lilly, where she led global translational science for abemaciclib and served as the lead Clinical Research Physician on early and late phase clinical trials. Through her scientific and clinical expertise, she impacted multiple early and late stage clinical programs as well as preclinical R&D and corporate business development.

Valerie started her career in academia as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, with a translational research program focused on understanding mechanisms of resistance to cancer targeted therapies. She also cared for patients with breast cancer in the clinic, exemplifying the bench-to-bedside model. She co-authored numerous peer-reviewed research articles and received numerous awards for her research endeavors including a Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship, ASCO Young Investigator Award, AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award, and SABCS Clinical Scholars Award.

Valerie received her MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and her PhD in Molecular Sciences from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology through the ABIM Physician-Scientist Research Pathway at Vanderbilt. Valerie is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.

David Dornan brings to Elevation over two decades of industry and academic oncology drug discovery and development experience. His research spans across multiple therapeutic modalities targeting cancer susceptibilities and modulating the immune system to translate into meaningful therapeutic interventions for patients. He joins Elevation Oncology from Bolt Biotherapeutics. As Chief Scientific Officer, he was responsible for the scientific strategy and building of the company’s portfolio in targeted immunotherapies. Prior to this, David was the head of Oncology Research at Gilead, identifying, validating, and translating oncogenic targets into actionable entities with biologic and small molecule therapeutics and oversaw the integrated oncology strategy team. He began his career at Genentech, where he spent 10 years serving in positions of increasing responsibility and played key roles in target discovery and validation, as well as translational research programs.

David received his Ph.D. from the University of Dundee in Molecular Oncology and Biochemistry and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Genentech.

David resides in California and enjoys outdoor activities such as skiing, snowboarding, and running.

Tammy Furlong is the Chief Financial Officer at Elevation Oncology, responsible for the financial oversight, management and compliance of the organization. Prior to becoming CFO, she served the Company as Vice President, Finance and Accounting. Tammy is a solutions driven financial executive with extensive leadership experience in accounting, financial reporting, information systems, financial transformation, global strategy and management areas encompassing more than 20 years with Fortune 500 publicly traded companies. Prior to joining Elevation Oncology, she was a finance consultant where she focused on capital raising, strategic transactions and finance operations for multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Tammy’s experience in financial transformation lends strategic focus and expertise integral for a growing portfolio.

Tammy has a BS in Accounting from Adelphi University, an MBA from Bentley University, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from the Boston University Metropolitan College. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Massachusetts and a Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute.

Tammy resides in New Hampshire and enjoys swimming, running, hiking, cycling, and skiing.

Ryan Bloomer is an experienced leader with expertise in leading the planning and execution of chemistry, manufacturing, and control strategies. He brings over two decades of industry experience to Elevation Oncology, and joins the company from Genentech where he spent seven years in roles with increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Global Head of External Drug Substance Manufacturing overseeing a global product portfolio of 46 commercial small and large molecule products. Prior to that, Ryan served as Head of Operations at Novartis Pharmaceuticals managing the manufacturing process of clinical and commercial stage products. He has also held positions at Biogen,BioReliance and Regeneron.

Ryan earned his Bachelor of Science from Nazareth College of Rochester in Biology/Biochemistry.

He resides in California and enjoys activities such as mountain biking, cooking ethnic food and spending time with his wife and two children.

Robert C. Yang has over 10 years of experience serving as counsel to public companies during stages of substantial growth, mainly in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Elevation Oncology, he was Executive Director and Assistant General Counsel at REGENXBIO, a leading gene therapy company, where he advised on several major capital markets and corporate development transactions in addition to legal matters across all business functions. Earlier in his career, Robert was an associate at the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he practiced in the areas of capital markets, securities regulation and corporate governance. He received his J.D. with honors from New York University School of Law and his B.S. in Economics from Duke University.

Jon Kaufman is a seasoned professional in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry with over three decades of experience. Since 2022, Jon has served as the Vice President of Clinical Data Sciences at Elevation Oncology. Before joining Elevation, he held various leadership positions, contributing significantly to the advancement of clinical research and drug development processes. Jon has demonstrated expertise in clinical data management, pharmacovigilance, and statistical programming throughout his career. From his tenure at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Astra Pharmaceuticals to his more recent roles at Homology Medicines, and Mersana Therapeutics, Jon has helped optimize processes and ensure the quality and integrity of clinical data. His leadership at companies such as Homology Medicines, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and Mersana Therapeutics, reflects his ability to drive innovation and efficiency in clinical operations.

Jon Kaufman received his Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Biochemistry from Michigan State University.

Maegan Deegan brings over a decade of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and clinical research industry. Currently serving as the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Elevation Oncology since 2023, Maegan plays a pivotal role in overseeing clinical activities. Previously, she held the position of Senior Director of Clinical Operations at Elevation Oncology for three years, demonstrating her commitment and expertise within the organization. Before joining Elevation Oncology, Maegan served as the Director of Clinical Operations at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals and Clinical Operations Team Leader at Loxo Oncology, solidifying her leadership capabilities and strategic acumen in oncology research. Prior to these roles, Maegan served as a Clinical Project Manager at Spinifex Pharmaceuticals and as a Clinical Site Manager at Bristol-Myers. Maegan’s diverse background and proven track record make her a valuable asset in driving our clinical operations and advancing our oncology research initiatives.

Maegan Deegan received her Master of Science degree in Project Management at Boston University.

Biren Shah brings over 20 years of partnership management experience as Elevation’s Senior Vice President of Business and Corporate Development.  He is responsible for business development, corporate strategy and alliance management, with the remit of accelerating Elevation’s next phase of growth.  Biren joins our Leadership Team from EQRx where he founded the company’s Alliance Management function and served as an advisor to Revolution Medicines during its acquisition of EQRx.  Prior to these roles, Biren also built a diverse Alliance Management team at BeiGene that progressed a broad portfolio of collaborations.  Throughout his career, Biren has consummated and managed partnerships that exceed $2 Billion in deal value.  The diverse global partnerships he’s fostered across startup biotech and large pharma have enduring value that have elevated the standard of care for patients.

Earlier in his career, Biren held positions of increasing responsibility in pre-clinical, clinical and commercial development at AbbVie, Elan Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Labs.  His strategic and tactical experience managing cross-functional teams includes the launch of two blockbuster assets globally.

Biren has a BA in Economics from Rutgers University and an MBA from the University of Illinois.  He currently serves as a Mentor at UCSF Innovation Ventures, helping faculty and post-docs evolve their academic inventions to broad applicability.

Henry B. Koon, MD is a physician scientist who has over 20 years of experience in Medical Oncology and Drug development. He joins Elevation Oncology from BioNTech where he was a Senior Director in Clinical Development who partnered with the business development group to evaluate potential collaboration assets. Prior to joining BioNTech, he was the Clinical Development Lead for the anti-CTLA4 Probody and bempegaldesleukin programs at Bristol Myers Squibb. As the Clinical Development Lead, he oversaw clinical studies in melanoma as well as gastrointestinal, genitourinary and breast cancers. He initially joined BMS as a Clinical Trial Physician for melanoma and bladder cancer studies in the nivolumab and Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) inhibitor programs.

Before transitioning to industry, Henry was an Associate Professor at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine / Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) focused on cutaneous malignancies and sarcoma. He served as Chair and Co-chair of Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee and a member of the Institutional Review Board. He was the Medical Oncology Lead for the Cutaneous Malignancy Program and Sarcoma Programs at the Seidman Cancer Center / University Hospitals.

He completed his Hematology / Oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). After his fellowship, he participated in the AIDS Malignancy Clinician Scientist Training program. During his faculty appointment at BIDMC he conducted translational research in AIDS malignancy investigating the use of signal transduction inhibitors and angiogenesis inhibitors in the treatment of Kaposi’s sarcoma. In addition, as a member of the Biologics/Cutaneous Malignancy Group at BIDMC, he was a clinical investigator focused on the use of immunotherapy in GU cancer and melanoma.

Michael Carruthers currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Edgewise Therapeutics (NASDAQ: EWTX). Mr. Carruthers has over 20 years of experience serving as Chief Financial Officer for publicly-traded biopharmaceutical companies, with extensive experience across corporate finance and strategic planning including IPOs, secondary offerings and M&A transactions. Most recently, Mr. Carruthers consulted as Chief Financial Officer for several private and public companies. Previously, Mr. Carruthers served as Interim President of Nivalis Therapeutics, a publicly traded company acquired by Alpine Immune Sciences, in 2017 and Chief Financial Officer and Secretary from 2015 to 2017. From 1998 to 2015, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Array BioPharma Inc., a publicly traded company acquired by Pfizer Inc. Prior to this, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Sievers Instruments, Treasurer and Controller for the Waukesha division of Dover Corporation and Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Carruthers received a B.S. in accounting from the University of Colorado and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Tim Clackson, Ph.D., is President and Chief Executive Officer at IDRx. Tim most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Theseus Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of cancer patients through the discovery, development, and commercialization of transformative targeted therapies. Prior to Theseus, Tim was President and Chief Technology Officer at Xilio Therapeutics, a privately held oncology company developing tumor-selective immunotherapies, where he led the development of the company’s technology and product strategy. From 1994 to 2018, Tim was with ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, where he was President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer. He played a key role in the company’s evolution from early research to a global commercial oncology company, and its subsequent acquisition by Takeda. He led the multi-disciplinary R&D team that internally discovered and developed five clinical-stage product candidates, including ICLUSIG® (ponatinib), approved for patients with treatment-resistant Ph+ leukemias; ALUNBRIG® (brigatinib), approved for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and EXKIVITY® (mobocertinib), approved for EGFR Exon20 insertion+ NSCLC. Prior to ARIAD, Tim was a postdoctoral research fellow at Genentech. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge, and his B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. Tim serves as a director on the boards of Forma Therapeutics, Theseus Pharmaceuticals, and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio).

Steve Elms is a Managing Partner at Aisling Capital, a leading life sciences investment firm. Prior to joining Aisling, he was a Principal in the Life Sciences Investment Banking Group of Chase H&Q (formerly Hambrecht & Quist), where he was involved in over 60 financing and M&A transactions, helping clients raise in excess of $3.3 billion in capital. Prior to H&Q, Mr. Elms traded mortgage-backed securities at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. His previous healthcare sector experience includes over two years as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Marion Laboratories and two years as a consultant for The Wilkerson Group. Mr. Elms currently serves as a director of ADMA Biologics, Marker Therapeutics, and was previously Chairman of the Board of LOXO Oncology. He also serves on the INVO Board at Northwestern University and the Board of Ajax Health. He received his M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and his B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.

Joseph Ferra brings to Elevation over 20 years of financial, strategic and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. Prior to becoming CEO, he served Elevation as Chief Financial Officer and Interim CEO. Before joining Elevation, he was Chief Financial Officer of Syros Pharmaceuticals where he led the development and implementation of key financial and capital strategies and contributed to corporate initiatives. Previously, he spent over a decade as an investment banker in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, where he established a strong track record of advising on equity and M&A transactions. This included serving as Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at JMP Securities and being a member of the investment banking groups at JP Morgan and UBS. Earlier in his career, Joe served in sales and engineering roles in the life science tools industry. He earned his MBA from The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He obtained a B.S. in Chemistry with Distinction from Purdue University, where he contributed to published papers and conducted research at the National Institutes of Health. 

Joe also currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the General Board of Directors and as the Chair of Audit & Risk Committee for the YMCA of Greater Boston.

Joe resides in Rhode Island and enjoys playing guitar, sailing, hiking and anything else involving the outdoors.

Darcy Mootz, Ph.D., currently serves as President of Architect Therapeutics, a position she has held since April 2023. Dr. Mootz is an experienced life sciences executive, who brings expertise across corporate strategy, corporate development, finance, and operations. She previously served as Head of Amunix Pharmaceuticals from February 2022 until April 2023 and was Chief Business Officer of Amunix from February 2019 to February 2022. Prior to joining Amunix, Dr. Mootz was an independent consultant working with venture capital firms and life sciences companies on corporate development and strategy projects. Before that, she served as Chief Business Officer of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, and, earlier, served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Achaogen. In addition to the Elevation Oncology Board, Dr. Mootz also serves on the Board of Directors of Alpha-9 Oncology.

Dr. Mootz received a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University.

Dr. Cherrington is an experienced life science executive with extensive insight in bringing novel product candidates into the clinic and through to commercialization. Over the course of her career, Dr. Cherrington contributed to the successful development of multiple U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved products, including SUTENT®, PALLADIA®, VISTIDE®, VIREAD®, and HEPSERA®, and served as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for several biotechnology companies.

She currently serves as a Venture Partner at Brandon Capital Partners, as well as Chair of Actym Therapeutics, Chair of Tolremo Therapeutics, and director at Syncona Limited, Sardona Therapeutics, KisoJi Biotechnology and MycRx. Earlier, Dr. Cherrington served as CEO of QUE Oncology, and as President and CEO of Arch Oncology, Revitope Oncology, Inc., Zenith Epigenetics, and Pathway Therapeutics.

Dr. Cherrington holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis, and completed her Ph.D. training in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

Alan Sandler, MD is an accomplished leader in oncology and drug development, with experience leading clinical development and operations, regulatory affairs, drug safety and asset development strategy across industry and academia. He is the Chief Medical Officer of ALX Oncology, a publicly-traded, clinical stage immuno-oncology company and serves on the scientific advisory board of Tolremo Therapeutics.

Prior to that, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Mirati Therapeutics, a Bristol Myers Squibb Company. Before joining Mirati Therapeutics, Dr. Sandler was President and Global Head of Oncology for Zai Lab, where he led global oncology development for the company. Previously, Dr. Sandler was the Senior Vice President and Global Head, Product Development of Oncology Solid Tumors at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. He has also held academic roles at Oregon Health and Science University, Indiana University and Vanderbilt University. Dr. Sandler holds an M.D. from Rush Medical College and completed his training in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical oncology at Yale-New Haven Medical Center.

He has published over 300 publications including peer-reviewed articles, reviews, abstracts, and book chapters.

Dr. Siraj M. Ali is a physician-scientist and Global VP Translational Medicine at Lunit Global.  Previously, he led translational research efforts at Foundation Medicine where his group focused on identifying predictive biomarkers for targeted anti-neoplastic and cancer immunotherapies, which encompasses both work with basic cancer biology and exceptional responders.  Siraj has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which have accrued nearly 20,000 citations, in journals such as The Oncologist, JCO-Precision Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), and others.  He has given invited and juried presentations at international conferences. Siraj serves as a reviewer for multiple life-sciences journals and is a member of a NIH study section focused on drug development for oncology.

Siraj earned his BS in Biophysics Phi Beta Kappa from the Johns Hopkins University and an MD-PhD program from Harvard Medical School supported by HHMI fellowships and the Medical Scientist Training Program.  He completed residency training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston and is board-certified in Anatomic Pathology.

Dr. Dennis Benjamin of Heceta Biosciences has over 20 years of experience in biotech and a deep expertise in therapeutics for oncology. He has discovered and helped develop platform technologies, bringing 25 molecules from discovery to IND and contributed to four FDA approvals. Prior to Heceta, Dennis spent 15 years at Seattle Genetics leading a 120-person department responsible for discovering and nominating IND candidates for company clinical pipeline.

Dennis holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of California San Francisco. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford. He has worked on nearly 30 publications during his long career.

Dr. Camidge’s main clinical and research interests are thoracic malignancies and developmental therapeutics. The discoveries he and his team have made have changed the standard of care for the treatment of lung cancer multiple times. He has authored over 200 academic publications, including in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Lancet Oncology, and New England Journal of Medicine. He has received numerous awards including the Bonnie J. Addario International Lectureship Award and The Lung Cancer Foundation’s Breath Away From The Cure Award. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he was internationally recognized as a highly cited researcher ranked in the top 1% of all of Clinical Medicine by Clarivate Analytics Web of Science. He is the National Medical Director of the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium (ATOMIC), a member of the VIA Oncology Lung Cancer Pathways Committee and a past-member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Lung Cancer Committee. 

Dr. Alexander Drilon is the Acting Chief of the Early Drug Development Service and a medical oncologist on the Thoracic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. His research focuses on the development of targeted therapy for genomic subsets of lung cancer and other solid tumors, including cancers that harbor fusions involving ALK, ROS1, RET, and NTRK1/2/3, and MET exon 14 skipping alterations. He is a recipient of American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/Conquer Cancer Foundation Career Development and Young Investigator Awards, and grants from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the Lung Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Drilon is also a member of the Editorial Board of ASCO University.

Professor Ou is board-certified in Internal Medicine (2020 renewal) and Medical Oncology (2023 renewal) by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a Hamoui Salous Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology Research.

He has published more than 180 peer-reviewed manuscripts (including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Nature Medicine) primarily in the field in targeted therapy including resistance mechanisms to targeted therapy in lung cancer.

In particular, Professor Ou is one of the seven original principal investigators for the still ongoing phase I crizotinib trial that has led to the approval of crizotinib for the treatment of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and ROS1-rearranged NSCLC which is now currently investigating the activity of crizotinib in MET exon 14 altered NSCLC. Other clinical research that Professor Ou has involved in has led to the approval of afatinib in uncommon EGFR mutations, Alectinib and Lorlatinib for ALK TKI-refractory ALK+ NSCLC.

Currently first-in-human phase 1 trials that Professor Ou are conducting includes a 3G ROS1/2G NTRK TKI (Repotrecitnib), a next generation RET inhibitor (BlU667), RMC-4630 (SHP2 inhibitor) as a single agent or in combination, and MRTX849 (direct covalent allosteric KRAS G12C inhibitor). The newest target Professor Ou is involved in is targeting NRG1+ fusion malignancies. Professor Ou also actively collaborate with commercial sequencing companies to mine their database to investigate their database on resistance mechanisms and treatment outcome to targeted therapy and also identification of extremely rare actionable driver mutations.

Professor Ou is the editor-in-chief of Lung Cancer: Targets and Therapy and Associate editor of Journal of Thoracic Oncology, editorial board member for Annals of Oncology, Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, Clinical Lung Cancer, and Translational Lung Cancer Research. He is a member of the scientific program committee for metastatic non-small lung cancer track for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (2016-2018).

Dr. Kunkel holds more than two decades of experience in oncology and immunology drug development and commercialization. Dr. Kunkel currently serves on the Board of Directors of Curis, Inc., Nurix Therapeutics, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, and Maverick Therapeutics.  She was previously the acting Chief Medical Officer at Loxo Oncology and subsequently served on their board. She also served as Chief Medical Officer at Pharmacyclics (acquired by AbbVie) and Proteolix, Inc. (acquired by Onyx Pharmaceuticals), where she contributed to the global approvals of cancer therapeutics IMBRUVICA® and Kyprolis®, respectively. She participates as a scientific advisor to multiple clients including Atreca, Jasper Therapeutics, Oncopeptides, Oryzon, Rain Therapeutics, and Enliven Therapeutics.  Dr. Kunkel spent ten years in academic medicine and served as a faculty member at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at University of California, Los Angeles. She is board certified in internal medicine and held board certifications in hematology and oncology and holds a B.A. in biology from the University of California, San Diego.